He was the brother of James, who presided at the Jerusalem Council and wrote the epistle of James, and was the half-brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3).

The Perversion within the Church

[Verse 4 ] For certain men have crept in stealthily [gaining entrance secretly by a side door]. Their doom was predicted long ago, ungodly (impious, profane) persons who pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality and disown and deny our sole Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). [AMP]

Jude talks about APOSTASY, basically a turning away from the Faith. We learn that they are sneaky, ungodly and pervert the Grace of Jesus. They deny that Jesus is Master and Lord.

And they stand condemned!

The media today is influencing the church.

The politically correct police are on high alert! You can mention God as long as you don’t mention His absolute truth. You can mention Jesus as long as He was just a good teacher. Pastors are required to be politically correct rather than biblically correct to be accepted. The trend in churches today is to be welcoming, but primarily affirming. Sermons are designed to tickle the ear and not convict the heart.

God help us!

It’s sobering and it makes me sad to think of those I know who could very well fall into this category of being apostate. Understand the APOSTASY is false teaching, its false living. It is the Christian form of hypocrisy. It’s saying you are a Christian but in truth, you are not. Your action, your attitude, bear the lies that come out of your mouth.

So Jude gives a WARNING to the apostates, the enemy of the TRUE CHURCH.

He begins by giving us some examples of people who are exposed to the truth, to the grace, and totally reject it and face eternal punishment. It truly squeezed my heart when rereading this passage of scripture because there are many I know today that could very well experience this punishment.

The LORD delivers people from bondage, but sometimes people fall back.

One Example: God’s chosen nation (vs. 5)

[5] “Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the LORD at one time delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.” [NIV]

Jude says here that Jesus (more accurately translated LORD) saved a people in the land of Egypt. That is the Hebrew people, the future nation of Israel.

We see here that even ANGELS, heavenly beings, are subject to the great day of JUDGMENT.

Many commentators take this verse and its parallel in 2 Peter 2:4 to be a reference to the primordial fall in the bible of wicked angels under the leadership of Lucifer. This creates somewhat of a dilemma. Clearly, not all the dethroned angels are “cast into hell and committed to pits of DARKNESS”, reserved for judgment as Peter writes. This same Peter says that Satan is still somewhat loose, and prowls around like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8).

The simplest way to resolve this questioning is to take the “angels” in this passage of Jude is referenced to the Godly line of Seth in the Bible; the “sons of God.”

The Background of the “sons of God” in Genesis 6.

The angels portrayed here forsook what God ordained them to do. They chose their own thing! [i.e. They became their own god.]

Numerous interpretations I have read suggested that the “sons of God” were fallen, angels who married earthly women and produced children…Giants in the land, although how “angels” could intermarry has never been explained. Jesus clearly states that angels don’t marry (Matthew 22:30), and there’s no evidence that angels have gender or genitalia. A few have suggested that “demon-possed men.”as an alternative theory, but this is still rather unsatisfactory, and neither of these interpretations offers anything of relevance to the historical evidence of Genesis6. [See footnote [ii] ].

The result was eternal punishment.

They forsook being in God’s presence to follow their own path.

Bringing this all back to Jude, those who are APOSTATE are the ones who choose to be their own God.

I believe that the biggest ACT OF APOSTASY in our day is….you are a Christian, continuing to live like the world, or even worse than the world! This type of SIN denies Lordship over one’s life. It cheapens the GRACE that believers are supposed to live under.

If my understanding of the passage of Scripture is right, then that type of living is APOSTASY; to be judged by God just like the Hebrew people in the wilderness, just like the angels who denied their rightful place, just like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The LORD delivers people from bondage today as He did when the Hebrews were delivered out of Egypt from bondage. But sometimes people fall back into bondage. We’ve all probably done this, but Jude lists some who didn’t and was punished.

Angels who left home.

People who left morality behind.

Whatever it is, God can deliver us!

BUT…but we must not turn back.

No Turning Back into our old ways will get us into trouble every time. And for some people, it could mean eternal trouble.

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I am a strong believer in God's Word. John 18:37 JESUS "came into the world to bear witness to the TRUTH". Then He goes on to say that "Everyone who is of the TRUTH [the WORD] hears and listens to My voice." Since I am a friend of the TRUTH and belong to the TRUTH, I hear His voice through the Spirit of Truth; the Holy Spirit. That is the reason I became the WORD detective. To share the TRUTH I find in the Word. Through my experiences as a believer and to find results in our everyday circumstances. I am a TRUTH-SEEKER!